


Fixing

by Flyontheceiling



Category: Mitch grassi - Fandom, Pentatonix, Scott Hoying - Fandom, Superfruit
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mention of Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28852818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flyontheceiling/pseuds/Flyontheceiling
Summary: A follow- up to ‘Broken’. Scott And Mitch try to repair their relationship.
Relationships: Mitch Grassi/Scott Hoying
Kudos: 9





	Fixing

**Author's Note:**

> I thought I was finished with this, but Scott and Mitch seemed to have other ideas, and let’s face it, we don’t want to see them left like that, do we?

  
It had been a long, rough journey, but Scott felt he was nearing the end. There had been bumps and cracks in the road along the way of course, the occasional yawning chasm even, but he had found a way to cross them making use of all the tools he had at his disposal.

His therapist had dragged things out of him he never even knew existed. He had discovered how fragile he was under his outgoing exterior, and that he had to respect that side of him instead of pushing it away. His sessions had given him peace to a certain extent, but yet even more questions had popped up that he knew he had to answer. But he would find the answers at his own pace, in his own good time, there was no rush, he knew that now. He felt at ease with himself now- sort of. Almost anyway.

He hadn’t really _wanted_ to die, he had learned. Just needed, yearned for the pain to to away. The pills he had taken could have damaged his body permanently, but for once, Scott felt he had fallen on his feet, suffering no lasting effects from the overdose. Thanks to Mitch. Yeah- thanks to Mitch.

He had leaned on his friends more than he ever had done before, and was shocked to find out just how few real friends he had. The amount of time he had spent with Mark had excluded nearly all his old social circle, and the worrying thing was, he hadn’t even noticed when it had been happening; he had been too wrapped up in his relationship. Sure, the friends he had spent time with were still around, but a lot were gone, moving on, and more had been lost when they had found out what he had done. They considered him ‘unstable’ and ‘needy’. In a way he was grateful, his real friends had stuck around, and the fake ones had been weeded out.

His parents, who had been there twenty four hours a day for a while; to Scott’s horror, had wanted him to return home to Texas, to leave the band and the environment that they seemed to blame for his ‘breakdown’. That had been a non- starter, and then there had been lots of hand-wringing and tears, but Scott had dug his heels in and asserted himself-something that had surprised him-he could be assertive.

His bandmates had been unbelievable. His real friends- his extended family. They treated him the same as they always had. The last thing they had considered doing was handling him with kid gloves. They had taken none of his shit, urging him to socialise and face the world again, and Scott was shocked to discover that life had carried on much the same, and would continue to do so, with or without Scott Hoying. It had been an epiphany. 

Now, it was time to complete his journey and return to work full time. The last step on the ladder back to normality.

And it was scaring him to death.

It was only scaring him because he had to finally face Mitch. Scary, scary Mitch- it was laughable really. The same Mitch he’d been so careful to avoid for the past two months, never even considering this day would come. Well, he thought to himself, there was no way that could continue now, and the whole stupid situation could have been avoided if he’d just not been so damned stubborn. Stubborn should have been his middle name.

It had been understandable at first, even to his bandmates, after all, it _was_ Mitch’s name that had been thrown about as the cause of his relationship breakdown, thanks to Mark and social media. Not true of course, but that didn’t stop the gossip.

It had been so simple to just let it go on and on, until even they were losing patience with him. It was comfortable and it was easy. Mitch had tried at intervals to contact him and Scott had ignored him. So Scott had no-one to blame but himself. 

He dressed slowly. It wouldn’t be a long meeting, he’d been informed; just a talk about their upcoming projects that had been put on hold awaiting Scott’s recovery, and then he would be free to retreat to his lair and lick his wounds. It shocked him to think that he thought about getting back to work, to the job he loved, like this. Then he realized that if Mitch had not been in the equation, he’d be so excited. 

Finally ready, he had no excuses left not to leave. His anxiety level was high, but so was his determination to get through this. This was when his stubborn streak came in useful. Once this was done, things might slowly get back to normal- whatever the new normal was.

He double checked Bubba’s water bowl one last time. ‘Wish me luck, Bubba,’ he murmured, and gave the dog a quick scratch behind the ears before picking up his keys and heading out.

They had arranged to meet in a room at their record label, and Scott had to admit that he felt more ‘normal’ than he had for a long time. He was going to work again, and it was a good feeling. He was ready, finally, to put the last two months behind him.

People he passed in the corridors who recognised him smiled or called a greeting, either unaware or uncaring of the reason for his absence, and Scott’s mood was gradually improving to the point where he felt he could handle anything. Finding the room, he stood for only a few seconds outside taking a few deep breaths. He was a little early so the chances were quite high he was the first to arrive.   
He opened the door and the first thing he noticed was the heavy smell of coffee in the room, and the second thing was Mitch, and only Mitch.

It just had to be, hadn’t it? 

He was sprawled on a couch like it was a damned chaise lounge, his phone in one hand and a coffee in the other; totally at home, like he owned the place. ‘Hey,’ he said, raising his eyes only briefly from his screen.

‘Hi’. Uncomfortable. Very. It was far too warm in here.

He spotted the coffee and helped himself, every nerve jangling. Then it was deciding where to sit. There were two couches, the one Mitch had apparently decided was his, and one at right angles to it. So he sat at the far end of the empty couch, Mitch’s feet pointing in his direction, and therefore his eyes straight in his line of sight. He leaned against the arm, trying to look casual, pulling out his phone as a distraction.

‘How you feeling?’ 

Suddenly, Scott was taken back to a riotous party at the house they had shared. To an energetic and drunken video made in one take with that very title. He recalled lots of jumping and running from one room to another. To their last few days living together. To when it all started to fall apart. Had it only been three and a half years ago?

Mitch was looking at him over the top of his coffee mug expectantly now. Scott brought himself back to the present. ‘Fine,’ he said, more lightly than he felt, then added as an afterthought, ‘thank you. You?’ Too formal. Oh he could see how well Mitch was doing. The self confidence was just oozing out of him.

‘Good.’ Mitch sighed and swung himself effortlessly into a sitting position, leaning forward with his whole attention on Scott now. ‘Just so you know, it’s just you and me for the next half hour. Kevin arranged it.’

Scott felt suddenly cold. Kevin? Kevin had put him in this position? Well, Kevin had some goddamned explaining to do when he eventually got here. He bit back an angry retort.

Mitch put his phone and coffee on the large, square table, pulled up the sleeves on the black hoodie he was wearing, hitched even further forwards and looked at him- really looked at him, his eyes boring into his soul, causing Scott to wince inwardly. 

Then it started. A flick of the hand in the air, a raising of the shoulders, a toss of the head. ‘What the hell, Scott?’ His voice was high and loud, his tone demanding, and Scott couldn’t help but flinch. Mitch could turn into a spitting cobra in an instant. Assertive, Scott, assertive. Remember? 

His mouth opened and closed but nothing came out. What had happened to assertive? He ran a hand frantically through his hair, feeling his face on fire but unable to look away from Mitch, searching for words and failing miserably.

‘Well?’ Mitch waited, both hands out in front of him, as if expecting his answer to fall into them.

Eventually Scott’s brain connected to his vocal cords. ‘I was an idiot. I’m sorry.’ It came out in a whimper. Hah! So much for assertive, now he was grovelling. ‘I-I don’t know, Mitch. I just thought it would be easier.’ Well, at least that was true, he hadn’t had time to invent anything.

Mitch sighed and leaned back. ‘ Easier for you maybe,’ he said, both the tone and volume easing down, ‘did you ever even stop to consider how I felt?’ 

Nope, nope he hadn’t, because Scott Hoying had been a self absorbed dick. ‘ Yes! I thought it was what you’d want too! You certainly made your feelings obvious when you walked out my house that day!’ He could still hear the click of the door closing behind his back. ‘You didn’t know how fast to get away!’

Mitch snorted. ‘Liar!’ Well, yeah, but only partly. He shuffled further along the couch, so he was closer, and there was nowhere for Scott to go. The accusation, however true, hurt. He should have known better by now that he was notoriously bad at lying.   
‘Do you know just how bad you made you me feel?’ Mitch continued. ‘You were my best friend, Scott. I don’t think I deserved to be treated like that. I would never, never have done that to you! ‘ He paused. ‘You acted like a fucking teenager-and incidentally, you know why I left!’ His eyes were challenging. ‘Don’t say you don’t.’ He waited, probably expecting another Hoying Special lie.

Scott felt a little indignant now, Oh he knew why alright. Mitch’s rejection that day still stung. He couldn’t help but make a strangled exclamation of annoyance. ‘Would it really have been so bad? Ending up in bed with me? Really?’ The anger and yes, embarrassment, he had felt that day was back, as raw as ever. 

He jumped to his feet to stand directly in front of Mitch, looking down at his equally annoyed, upturned face, his own on fire now, ‘I can’t ever remember you being that reticent before! You just walked away when I needed you the most!’ Shut up Scott. ‘ God dammit, Mitch! How do think that made me feel about myself?’

Mitch’s eyes were wide. There was no way he was going to allow Scott to tower over him like that, in the dominant position, his blue eyes dangerously narrowed, and he was quickly on his feet too. ‘You blamed me for your break-up, whether you think you did or not! Did you really think rebound sex was the way forward from that? Seriously? What if I’d stayed, Scott? How would you have felt afterwards? Because I can tell you, you would have felt even worse- I can guarantee it. Did you think of that?’ 

‘What I was thinking was that you were my friend!’ The words came out on a choked sob, before he could stop them. Way to go, Scott.

For a few seconds, they just stood, staring at each other, faces flushed with anger, until Mitch realized he’d been holding his breath. He let it out in a rush, and the one he gulped back in caught in his throat in a sob. ‘Did you...did...did you know that I thought you were dying, Scott?’ 

The tears, held back so well up until now, started to spill down his face, totally ruining his high and mighty facade, and the words just tumbled out, way too fast and emotional. ‘Did you know that I thought I was losing you? Seeing you lying there, and you wouldn’t wake up? That I was so upset I had a panic attack and the paramedics had to give me Valium? Huh? Did they tell you that, Scott? That I went home and cried myself to sleep?’ He lifted a lip and sneered up at Scott, ‘I bet they didn’t. What about having to rely on other people to tell me how you were doing? Wondering every single day how you were, but not wanting to keep bothering other people! But you think I’m not your friend?’’ He punctuated his last sentence with a stab to Scott’s chest with his forefinger on each word. ‘Jesus, Scott! I thought I was more than that!’ He finished with another sob. Dammit, Mitch thought, he hadn’t wanted to say that.

Scott didn’t know, had never thought. No- one had told him- but then they wouldn’t, would they? Knowing how busy he was trying as hard as he could to deny Mitch’s very existence. ‘I...I...no, I didn’t know.’ He sank back down on the couch, his head lowered and the heels of his hands rubbing his eyes. Mitch had made him feel small and guilty.

Mitch dropped down beside him, his hands tightly gripping his own upper arms, as if trying to ground himself. ‘You’re an idiot! I wanted to be there for you, to help you, but you pushed me away!’ 

‘Yes, I know,’ Scott shrugged, his voice quiet now. ‘Don’t think that I don’t,’ he huffed dryly. ‘I’ve had plenty of time to think about what an idiot I am, believe me. I’ve done a lot of soul searching these last weeks-and mostly I didn’t like what I found.’ He turned to look at Mitch. ‘What did you mean? More than that?’

Mitch looked confused. ‘What?’

‘You said- I thought I was more than that.’ 

‘No, I didn’t.’

Scott frowned. ‘You know you did.’ Mitch tried a bit of acting, rolling his eyes as if searching his memory, looking anywhere but at Scott, fooling neither his friend nor himself. Scott looked away in disappointment. ‘I thought we were doing some straight talking here -obviously I got it wrong.’ 

Mitch conceded. ‘Alright, alright. Maybe I did, because it’s true, isn’t it? What the hell we are I have no idea.’ He put up a finger to stop Scott as he opened his mouth to speak, ‘Please- I swear if you say ‘undefined’ I’ll scream- and you know I can.’ 

Scott grabbed at the finger in front of his face. ‘Oh, I know it.’ He grinned wryly, glad that for now, at least, the shouting seemed to be over. 

Mitch stood and wandered over to the coffee table, his hand to his throat. ‘Crying is so fucking hard on the vocal cords.’

As Mitch poured, Scott tilted his head, remembering. ‘You know, Kevin had an interesting theory.’ He accepted the coffee Mitch handed him gratefully. 

‘Oh? Kevin has?’ He looked intently at Scott. ‘Spill.’ He respected Kevin, and sometimes he was weirdly astute.

‘He reckons there are people out there who have already met their soulmate, but are in denial.’ Scott felt a wave of heat flow over his face.

Mitch threw his head back and laughed. ‘Oh? This is what you’re suggesting we are now?’ He continued to laugh as Scott’s face fell. 

‘You could at least hear me out.’

Mitch nodded but the grin stayed. ‘Okay.’

‘He said that the...’ he made air quotes, ‘...fates, God, guardian angels, whatever you want to call it, ‘ have already joined soulmates, and no matter how hard they try not to, they keep meeting until they learn what they are.’ He tried to ignore Mitch’s disbelieving smirk. ‘They can be with other people, but only for a limited time, a practice run so to speak...’

‘...Practice run, huh?’

‘But they will always end up together eventually, even if they’re old and grey.’

Mitch reached over and patted Scott’s hand. ‘Aww, that’s really sweet, Scotty.’ He struggled to keep his laughter in check. 

Scott leaned towards him to look him straight in the eyes, and Mitch’s smile faded. ‘You know it’s true though, don’t you? You know, the same as I do, that when you look into my eyes you see that same connection. It’s different than it is with others. It’s like being in space together, drifting...’ He put two fingers beneath Mitch’s chin, lifting the full bow of his mouth towards his own until he could feel Mitch’s breath lightly stirring the hairs of his beard. His voice dropped to a whisper now. ‘Drifting...weightlessly with no-one else to worry about..just being together...forever.’ As Mitch’s lips parted slightly and his eyelids dropped closed, Scott pulled away.

‘See?’ He murmured gleefully.

Mitch’s jaw dropped. Did he just...? Mitch couldn’t believe his nerve.

Suddenly, Scott was flat on his back and there was a whole amount of Mitch hovering over him. ‘Wh...?’ 

Mitch put his finger over Scott’s lips before he had the chance to utter a word. ‘Just some empirical research,’ he explained.

His lips found Scott’s, firm and resolute this time, and Scott was instantly lost in the newness and the familiarity. It was the same, it was different. 

He let Mitch take the lead, hesitant to spoil the moment, and was rewarded by the pressure of his tongue demanding entrance. He reached up to pull Mitch flat against him, and he came without protest, melting like hot chocolate over every curve and bend of Scott’s body. 

Mitch was shocked at his own desperation to get as close to this man as possible. It was almost as if they’d always been together, and Scott was returning home after a long absence. He wanted to feel, to taste, to hold, to renew this bond that they had for so many years.

Scott murmured against Mitch’s lips. ‘God- I missed you so fucking much.’ He moved onto his side, bringing Mitch with him, so they were side by side...equal, no-one in the dominant position. Mitch simply sighed, hot breath against his cheek, before reclaiming Scott’s mouth. 

It seemed to last forever- just their mouths exploring and enjoying and Scott had no other thoughts in his mind other than that very instant. So when the door to the room opened, he didn’t hear and probably wouldn’t have cared anyway. 

It wasn’t until he heard the light cough that he opened one eye to see Kevin leaning over the back of the couch looking down at them with a questioning expression. 

‘Times up,’ he said.

Scott’s limbs scrambled to get him into a vertical position, panicked noises coming from his throat, but Mitch held him in place with a mischievous smirk. ‘Hey, Kev. Kinda busy right now- raincheck?’ Scott stared at him incredulously, unable to move. Mitch winked. ‘Been working out.’

Kevin sighed. ‘Let him up, Mitch. We need him in one piece.’

Mitch patted the side of Scott’s face. ‘We’ll finish this later.’ He eased away from Scott who had only three words running through his head as he righted himself. ‘Finish this later.’ A promise if he’d ever heard one.

He peeled himself reluctantly away, giving himself a quick smooth down and clearing his throat as Kirstie and Matt joined them, chattering away as if everything was normal. Scott smiled and went through the pleasantries, but every sense seemed to be heightened, his concentration wandering, and time dragging. Of course, he let Kevin’s little plan to get them talking slip. It had worked.

Mitch couldn’t help but grin at Scott’s discomfort.. He hadn’t believed a word of his spiel about soulmates, but Scott seemed to believe there was something in it, and Kevin obviously did. He did have to admit to himself that it was ridiculous how he and Scott seemed to go round in circles, pulling away from each other on the circumference, but inevitably meeting again. The spark sometimes took a while to ignite, like a damp match, but once it had dried out there was always a flame.

Could it be possible? Could they just be putting off the inevitable? Was he willing to put it to the test? The only certainty Mitch was aware of is that he never, never wanted to be out of contact the way he had been ever again. 

It was still a big risk. They had both changed so much since the heady days when they lived together, but there had been no commitment then- they had both been seeing other people as well as each other, and it was eventually that situation had dealt the death knell to whatever they had. 

Of course, Scott might have other plans, Mitch mused, but somehow he doubted it. Scott hated being alone, and frankly, Mitch was surprised he hadn’t picked up some poor, unsuspecting guy before now. They were now both older, more experienced in sharing their lives with another person and also had much more to lose; they had a lot in common, but were different enough to ensure they each brought something new and fresh into each other’s lives. 

Then there were the rumors. The rumors that they would be reinforcing by being together. The situation would bring credence to the whispers that were circulating that Mitch had been the cause of Scott’s break-up. But they were going to be there anyway, and they were stronger together, surely.

He surreptitiously watched Scott interacting with the rest of the band as they finally got down to business. It seemed like the old Scott was back, larger than life and immediately falling back into his unofficial ‘leader’ position. He could tell though he couldn’t wait for the meeting to finish- the old furtive glances were back, and Mitch grinned to himself. It would be nice to be worshipped again.

Yep- he could do worse.

Scott couldn’t believe he’d finally broken down Mitch’s firewall. He hadn’t thought for one minute that the logical, grounded and sensible Mitch would fall for Kevin’s theory, but he wasn’t totally convinced this was the reason for his about turn. He suspected that Mitch had found a more practical reason for his decision. There was nothing written in stone here he knew, they had a lot in their past to come to terms with-there was going to be a lot of talking; but for now, he would take each day as it came.

Kevin couldn’t help but feel smug. He had never really considered himself a matchmaker, but it had made his heart sing when he had seen those two in a clinch on the couch. Not only talking civilly again, which had been his best hope, but almost devouring each other. But, he knew, they had been here before and there was nothing guaranteed where Scott and Mitch were involved. One of these days he was going to write a book.

For now, though, all was well, and that had to be good.


End file.
